Enclosures are used in a wide variety of applications and industries to house equipment, instrumentation, electronics and a wide variety of other components. The enclosure typically is a convenient means of grouping these components and provides protection from the surrounding environment including water, dirt, dust and other environmental factors which could otherwise harm or destroy the contents. Additionally, enclosures can be used to limit access to the components contained inside.
A limitation of conventional enclosures is the ability to easily expand if the capacity of the enclosure is exceeded. Existing enclosure designs are either stand-alone or are cumbersome to expand and difficult to assemble.
Maintaining a tight seal from the external environment is critical. Existing enclosures typically provide limited seals in the form of a single gasket. This design often leaks and no backup should the gasket fail. Additional, enclosure edges which are typically 90 degrees which limit the use of gaskets on these surfaces. These mating surfaces such as enclosure doors and side covers are therefore not gasketed and can provide areas that can harbor dust, dirt, moisture and insects.